Jes-Geist The Inquisitor - WMCQ Report Part I

Hello everybody and welcome to another blogpost on Petals of Insight. I know, I know, it’s been another long while since I last published anything, but I’m back due to popular demand! And by “popular demand” I mean, like three of you have asked me if I’m still writing and wanted to read more... *ahem* So, here I am!

Before I get into the nitty-gritty of this article, I have to say that I think I’ve discovered what one of

my real passions in Magic is. It’s not just brewing and playing; it’s playing with a purpose: practicing, testing, getting ready for tournaments. Before the WMCQ this last Sunday, I spent the previous three weeks living and breathing XMage.* I would wake up anywhere between 10am-11am, play on XMage until 4-5pm, go to work, and then log back in at 10pm for another marathon until 2am. I did this for two weeks, that’s nearly 80 hours of game play. I had never done this in my life and honestly? I noticed the difference. I noticed that I was making better decisions. I noticed that I was predicting what my opponents were going to do much better. Most importantly, I was able to notice various chinks in Modern’s armor. Although I went 3-3 at the WMCQ, it was not due to lack of practice, but we’ll get to that in a moment. Point is, these marathons will be something I do more often and for you aspiring Pros, I suggest you do it as well.

As a disclaimer: yeah, I may have spent 80 plus hours practicing online, however, that doesn’t mean I didn’t find time for a social life. I went to the movies, went to friends' houses, birthday parties, hung out with ladies, and followed through with other responsibilities. What I’m saying is, there is time for everything, and there is no excuse to not practice. Be honest with yourself. Do you want to win? Then find a way to make it work.

*For those who don’t know, XMage is basically a free version of Magic Online. Which means you don’t have to shell out money to play. Just install, connect, and play. All the cards are already in the database and the developers provide everything in the form of updates. Although free, keep in mind that the program is not without its problems and bugs, so be patient.

With that out of the way, my WMCQ! Alright, despite all the practice, I did go 3 and 3. I am not too proud of that, though it was so much better than the last couple of tournaments where I went 1-3 and 0-3 respectively, which are easily my worst performances in ages. I felt terrible. I felt like I had forgotten how to play this game completely. That needed to change. Thus, I got to XMage and began preparations for this second WMCQ. This meant working on my favorite format: Modern. If you know anything about me is that I do enjoy brewing, and for this tournament, it was no exception.

The first week was spent trying out a bunch of different ideas. None of which panned out and, unfortunately, have been erased from my hard drive… they were that bad. I tried an Omniscience Combo deck that would try to discard it with Faithless Looting and put it back into play with Obzedat’s Aid. When that didn’t work, due to high volume of graveyard hate, I tried a version with Fist of Suns. That version was much better. The problem was that Blood Moon wrecked you. Something fierce. Absurdly so. Wait, how did the deck work you ask? Well, like this!

Once you got Omniscience in play, you would cast Conflux or Glittering Wish for a Conflux. With the Conflux, you tutor for Petals of Insight (Eh, eh!) and try to Grapeshot/Release the Ants them for the win. You could also look for Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, and win with that. Not to mention that with Fist of Suns, Emrakul would only cost WUBRG to cast, and simple win by hard casting it. It was fun… just not good enough. It was back to the drawing board.

Another deck I tried was a new take on Affinity. From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to play a deck that was or could be aggressive in Modern, because, as it stands, you simply can’t afford to give decks too much time. I naturally turned to Affinity as it is essentially one of the premiere Aggro decks in the format (aside from Zoo). In addition to that, it is a deck that can potentially change roles if the deck is built correctly, meaning it could get a little defensive against other Aggro decks, or pack decent disruption for Combo decks. What was turning off from the deck was the abundance of Artifact hate, especially main deck Kolaghan’s Command from Jund and Grixis decks. This meant that I needed to do some research.

After doing some digging around the net and the Wizards.com Coverage Archives, I found a Japanese Affinity deck that got 2^nd place at a Grand Prix two years ago.* The deck was good, maybe even great. The deck was trading some of its speed for resilience—staying power—and it was working. Admittedly, 14 lands was way too low a land count which screwed a lot with your openers and had you keeping one-landers hoping to get lucky with Mox Opals and Springleaf Drums. I did try 15-16 lands, which helped, however, I kept having problems with Jund. It was hard to keep up with “Bolt your Ornithopter,” “Terminate your Goyf,” “Kolaghan’s Command Signal Pest and Plating.” I had a lot of games where that sequence was impossible to recover from. Post-boarded games were even more of a hassle as some brought in Damnations and Anger of the Gods. Maybe Stony Silence couldn’t wreck me anymore, but removal heavy decks were still hard to overcome. 

*http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpkob14/deck-tech-yuusei-gotous-no-affinity-2014-08-23

I must confess: I did go a little crazy brewing with Affinity. I kept heading down that rabbit hole,

wondering how far I could push Affinity’s multicolor mana base. I tried Dromoka’s Command in the sideboard for Anger of the Gods, general Burn Spells, and a way to grow Arcbound Ravager and Tarmogoyf (there's story about "Commanding Robots" somewhere, maybe could be an article later on). I tried Meddling Mages for Combo decks and for naming general hate cards like Stony Silence. Did it work? Sort of. The greed was real, though, and the colorless side of the mana base really made things difficult. I will say this, I played against Mono-Blue Tron, played Meddling Mage naming Thirst for Knowledge and my opponent did nothing for the rest of the game. Apparently, Thirst for Knowledge is very important to them. Against another opponent playing Naya Planeswalkers, he played a turn 3-4 Stony Silence, and I still beat him down with Goyfs and Meddling Mages. That was gratifying, but don’t play the deck. Don’t bother.

Next on the list was Aggro Loam. I always like the idea of playing Aggro Loam and devoted half the first week to making it work. I tried various versions of Aggro Loam, from the traditional Jund-colored Loam, a nuttier version with The Gitrog Monster, Oracle of Mul Daya, and Crucible of Worlds, and even Abzan-flavored Loam with Knight of the Reliquary and Lingering Souls. I tried it all. For this one, I did keep my two decklists:

Jund Loam

4 Tarmogoyf

1 Dreadbore
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Maelstrom Pulse 

2 Abrupt Decay
2 Raven’s Crime
3 Terminate
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Life from the Loam
4 Seismic Assault
4 Faithless Looting

1 Forest
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Hissing Quagmire
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Raging Ravine
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
3 Graven Cairns
3 Wooded Foothills
4 Verdant Catacombs

SB –

1 Dismember
1 Flame Jab
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Darkblast
2 Nature’s Claim
2 Thoughtseize
2 Dark Heart of the Wood
3 Anger of the Gods

Abzan Loam

3 Tarmogoyf
4 Dark Confidant
4 Knight of the Reliquary

1 Dismember
2 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Raven’s Crime
4 Path to Exile
4 Lingering Souls 

4 Life from the Loam

1 Fetid Heath
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Godless Shrine
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Treetop Village
1 Shambling Vent
1 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Forest
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Marsh Flats
3 Windswept Heath
3 Twilight Mire
4 Verdant Catacomb

SB –

1 Abrupt Decay
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Dark Heart of the Wood
1 Chalice of the Void
2 Thoughtseize
2 Damnation
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
3 Stony Silence

This is what they looked like before getting scrapped. The sideboards need a lot of work, I know. I’m not going to lie, I loved both decks, and for nearly a week, I really believed I was going to be playing either version of Loam. I mean, Life from the Loam is such a powerful engine card, it was really hard to pass up the opportunity to play it. Being able to recur Raven’s Crime and Ghost Quarters was great, and in the case of Jund Loam, Seismic Assault was absurd. Loaming into three lands is 6 points of damage for just two mana. 

Which one did I like better? Maybe Abzan Loam. Knights were good, Lingering Souls was insane, and the removal is much better than it is for Jund as you get Path to Exile. In the end, you still lack Seismic Assault which is the entire point of playing Loam. Before you ask, I did try a 4-color version. It employed the best of both worlds: Assaults, Souls, Crimes, Pulses, etc. The mana base was just hard to get right. By turn three or four, you need to be able to make RRR for Assault, more than one Black to play Raven’s Crime multiple times, green for Life from the Loam, and a white for Lingering Souls. You also need some basics to play around Blood Moon without them compromising the overall curve.

Therefore, it was out of the question. The mana alone prevented the deck from taking off as it could. The consistency wasn’t there, and without that, Aggro would easily rush over you, while decks like Tron would simply capitalize on the stumble. It just wasn’t worth it. All in all, either deck is worth trying out, if anyone feels like they can tune them and make it work, feel free to try, I’m all ears. However, by that point, it was time to move on.

Enter Aether Vial and Shouta Yasooka’s RUG Vial deck.** Back in 2012, Shota showcased this little number by getting 2^nd place at the World Championships. The deck was tricky, fun, and full of interesting interactions, most notably Vialing Snapcaster Mages and Eternal Witnesses to get back Cryptic Commands, removal, draw spells, among other things. While the deck is quite solid as is, I wondered what would happen if I played White instead of Red. This meant that I’d be bringing back Path to Exiles instead of Bolts and had access to Bant Charm. Bant Charm would be double teaming Cryptic Command in the disruption department as extra removal, anti-Instant technology against Chord of Calling, Collected Company, Ad Nauseam, etc, and could destroy Cranial Platings, Crucible of Worlds, or other random artifacts in game one. Furthermore, I figured  Vialing in Geist of Saint Traft could be pretty powerful, so in it went Mr. Saint Traft. Here’s what I was working with:

**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7cEGMRblDo 

Bant Vial

1 Restoration Angel
2 Eternal Witness
3 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Tarmogoyf
4 Snapcaster Mage

1 Bant Charm
2 Spell Snare
2 Remand
2 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Mana Leak
3 Serum Visions
4 Path to Exile
4 Aether Vial
4 Cryptic Command

1 Plains
1 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
1 Forest
2 Flooded Grove
2 Razorverge Thicket
3 Windswept Heath
3 Flooded Strand
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Island

SB –

1 Dispel
1 Bant Charm
2 Negate
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
3 Timely Reinforcements

The deck is fun to play and pretty competitive as well. That said, it still felt like something was missing. Hyper-aggressive decks were a bit of a problem, and maybe with a better sideboard this deck could do some real damage. As I typed the sideboard, I switched Kitchen Finks for Timely Reinforcements. Without testing it much more, I’m not sure which one is better. Timely is one of your best cards against Little Zoo and Burn, and whilst Kitchen Finks is great too, they aren’t as effect. However, Finks are better for the Midrangy-er/Control match ups like Jund and Nahiri Control. The other problem the deck had was keeping Tron from getting too crazy.

Playing this deck, though, was like… some sort of epiphany. I saw how good Geist of Saint Traft was right now. Even if I couldn’t stop Tron completely, I could Remand a Karn, Negate an Ugin, with a Geist in play and have a completely legitimate race. I could end of turn Vial a Geist against Eldrazi, Path something, Cryptic Command their guys, and get in with the Hexproofer and win that way. It was mostly the same play pattern against almost every deck. Even against Jund, Vial would let me get around Liliana, end of turn Geist and kill her with the Geist’s angelic companion.

Even though Aether Vial performed well, I thought I could do better. And if I could do better with Vial, I could do better with Geist. As a result, I turned to Jeskai. I knew very early on that I didn’t want to play Nahiri Control. I saw many of its matches, not to mention played against quite a few of them online, and noticed that the deck did a whole lot of nothing a whole lot of the time. I was largely unimpressed and underwhelmed. Curiously, many of these decks played Geist of Saint Traft in the sideboard, presumably because these players saw crazy good the card is against the mirror match among other match ups. It turns you “whole lot of nothing” plan into a “I can actually race people now” plan. That’s what I wanted. I wanted Geist in the main.

I liked the Bolts, the Helixes, the Paths, the Serum Visions, and the Ancestral Vision. I wasn’t a fan of the countermagic, so I tried versions without them, but had to put them back in as a concession to uninteractive decks like Ad Nauseam, Tron, Living End, and so on. I tried to blend in the Jeskai Flash decks with Nahiri Control and slowly ended up with a kind of Midrange Jeskai deck that wasn’t Flash-y or Nahiri-ish. After a lot of trial and error, 20 million drafts (more like 10-ish drafts), and a lot of discussion with three close friends, I landed on this list:

Jes-Geist Midrange

1 Restoration Angel
1 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Snapcaster Mage

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger

1 Electrolyze
2 Lightning Helix
2 Spell Snare 

2 Remand
3 Mana Leak
3 Ancestral Vision
4 Serum Visions
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt

1 Mountain
1 Arid Mesa
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Celestial Colonnade
2 Steam Vents
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Plains
3 Island
3 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand

SB –

1 Wear/Tear
1 Dispel
1 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Detention Sphere
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Rest in Peace
1 Spellskite
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Negate
3 Spreading Seas

You know, that’s a lot to take on for one day, I think I gonna stop here. So, stay tuned for part II where I will be talking about how I got to this list a little more in-depth and the tournament itself!

And yes, that sideboard is kinda terrible.

Yours truly,
Chris

MTGO: Hamngs
Twitter: Hamngs
XMage: Hamngs
Twitch: Hamnggs

Bonus Decklist!

Commanding Robots Lite Edition

1 Memnite

2 Master of Etherium
3 Etched Champion
4 Ornithopter
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
4 Tarmogoyf

2 Thoughtcast
3 Dispatch
4 Cranial Plating
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Mox Opal

1 Island

1 Plains

2 City of Brass

2 Inkmoth Nexus

3 Blinkmoth Nexus

4 Darksteel Citadel

4 Glimmervoid

SB -

2 Spellskite

3 Thoughtseize

3 Hurkyl's Recall

3 Dromoka's Command

4 Meddling Mage